University of Missouri – Columbia (MU)
I am leading an independent, translational research program focused on mitochondrial mechanisms underlying retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration and vision loss in glaucoma. With over nine years of experience in glaucoma research, our work bridges basic mitochondrial biology with clinically relevant applications to identify therapeutic strategies beyond intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction. During my postdoctoral training at the North Texas Eye Research Institute under Dr. Gulab Zode, I contributed to the development of clinically relevant mouse models of glaucoma and identified key pathogenic mechanisms, including ER stress, TGFß2 signaling, and impaired autophagy/mitophagy. Supported by an NIH K99/R00 (NEI EY032982) and a BrightFocus Foundation grant, our laboratory now advances MICOS-dependent mitochondrial architecture as a therapeutic target, leveraging human ocular tissues and interdisciplinary collaborations to accelerate translational impact.